America

Reading: The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry

10 day vacation in the States for my cousin's wedding. Great company, good food, real beer, hipster bars, book stores, my pony, and a beautiful Sodak fall - not even my computer crashing and hours of wedding pictures could ruin this week. I'm loving me some America right now.

The Kat One, looking dapper as per usual

House Remodeling

Reading: With God on Their Side: George Bush and the Christian Right by Ester Kaplan

So just because I know that all my lovely followers are ever so curious as to what kind of remodeling I have been doing with my cement shell of a house, I figured I would humor your all and post some pictures. Basically, I just painted the walls, which has been a world of difference in making things feel more homey. But I also, finished the kitchen, so I now have running water in the sink, I put down tile (d.i.y.) and invested in a used fridge and mini-stove top. It’s almost like having a real kitchen. I also cleaned out the spare bedroom, which my host family had been using for junk storage and took down the weird children’s toys hanging on the walls and replaced them with maps of the US and Ecuador. Oh, and I built a porch off the front to hang a hammock under. I’m planning on doing the same out back to cover some future worm beds…

Fiestas

Reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Typical Ecuadorian fiesta

Well, this is the weekend of the fiestas of Milagro, so I figured that this would be a good time to elaborate a little on what exactly is involved with an Ecuadorian fiesta, specifically those that are hosted by a community/city. Warning: this may get a little graphic… if you’re particularly attached to roosters, you might want to skip this one.

Anyway, the best comparisons that I have for fiestas here is like a county fair… or for a bigger city like Milagro, think state fair. Anyway, the fiesta is held on the date the community was founded but the shenanigans usually start several weeks before that date, with the finally weekend of dancing, drinking and debauchery.

Have you tried this weird animal yet?

Reading; The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Good mornin' Mr. Iguana

I ate iguana. Enough said.

I guess a little back-story on this occurrence may be warranted, although I feel as if the statement alone is sufficient. Basically, people here, especially the guys love to play this game with me that should have the name “have you tried this weird animal yet?"

Most of the time, my answer is no, since animal in question is usually something like snake, zorro, squirrel, carbora, guinea pig, rabbit, iguana, etc. A few days ago, we were going through the motions of this game yet again and the point came up that I still have not had the pleasure of eating iguana. At the time, I really didn’t think much of the conversation. But last night when one of the little boys in Chimbo showed up at my door while a I was making dinner to tell me that his brother had gone out and shot me an iguana at the river and his mother was grilling it for me.